


One Last Time

by Squarepeg72



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Advice, Choices, Time Turner (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:02:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25495780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squarepeg72/pseuds/Squarepeg72
Summary: Time takes on a different meaning when you have a time turner around your neck. Can a conversation with Professor Lupin help Hermione decide how to deal with that changing meaning?
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18
Collections: Hermione's Personal Library 2020





	One Last Time

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Round 2 of Hermione's Personal Library 2020 in Hermione's Haven
> 
> Character: Remus Lupin
> 
> “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." - The Fellowship of the Ring

Hermione looked around the empty Defense Against The Dark Arts classroom and shuttered. Even empty, the room had a haunted feel and sent a shiver up her spine. She had not planned on ending up here but following her feet seemed to be the best path when she had left the Common Room. She didn’t want to think about the things she had seen over the last day and the decisions she had made more than once.

“Ms. Granger? Can I help you with something?” Professor Lupin’s voice drifted out of his office and into his classroom. “Is there a reason you are in my classroom?”

“I’m not sure, Professor.” Hermione shrugged and sat in the desk she had been standing beside. “I feel lost right now. I know I have done the right things but I’m not sure where to go now.”

“Chocolate?” Professor Lupin held out a piece of a chocolate bar to Hermione. “It seems to be the cure for almost everything these days. Any idea why you feel lost?”

“I don’t really feel lost.” Hermione took the chocolate from the professor. “I just don’t feel. It seems like time is slipping around me and I am just watching. I’m not sure where I should go next.”

“Time is a strange thing. When we want to savor a moment, it moves too fast.” Professor Lupin shrugged and took a bite of his chocolate bar. “Yet, when we want to survive the moment, it moves too slow. The time between full moons never lasts long enough while the time of the full moon feels like it will last forever.”

“How do you live with the difference?” Hermione nibbled at the end of her chocolate bar. “I can't seem to find a place to settle or keep track of time since last night. I feel like I am either floating in the clouds and time is standing still or I am standing in a corridor and everyone is flying around me.”

“That time turner around your neck is part of it. But, another part of it is you have to come to terms with what has happened in the last few days.” Professor Lupin pointed at the chain around Hermione’s neck. “Knowing that a spin of an amulet can change the path of the people around you makes you think of time differently.”

“But, that doesn’t explain why the world seems to stand still sometimes.” Hermione frowned as she reached for the chain around her neck. “It feels like I am walking in Devils Snare and I will never be able to escape. And, I’m stuck where I don’t want to be and can’t get away.”

“That, Hermione, is just part of life.” Professor Lupin settled on top of the desk beside her. “Each of us is given time in this world to do the best we can. We can’t always make sense of the choices we have to make in that time, but we can make the most of what we are given. Just like I can choose to live each day as a gift or I can choose to live in fear of three days of each month, you can choose how you use the time you have.”

Hermione took the time turner from around her neck and laid it on the desk in front of her. “I think this makes that harder. Having a time turner means I have a chance to go back and try again. But, it has consequences. Just because I change one set of events, it does not mean that nothing else will go wrong and no one else will be hurt.”

“Will it make a difference if you no longer have the time turner?” Professor Lupin stood and walked to Hermione’s desk. “Will you look at each day any differently knowing you only have one attempt to get everything you need to get done on that day? Will you feel any different when time seems to go too fast or too slow?”

“I don’t know.” Hermione played with the chain of the time turner where it laid on the desk. “That’s what scares me the most. I have gotten used to being able to go back an hour or two to get another task or class done. What if I can’t manage everything with the time I have been given?”

“Then, you figure out what is the most important and do that first.” Professor Lupin set his hand on the desk close to the time turner. “Tackle one task at the time and make the most of the time you have. It is okay to not know what is coming next.”

Hermione lifted the time turner by it’s chain and offered it to Professor Lupin. “I think it is time for me to turn this in. I think there may be more important things to do with my time today. Harry is with Ron in the Hospital Wing and I think that’s where I need to spend my time today. Can you return this to Professor Dumbledore for me?”

Professor Lupin took the time turner from Hermione and tucked it into his jacket pocket. Patting the pocket, he turned to walk to his office. “A wise choice, Hermione. Time spent with friends and family is time well spent. Please ask Harry to stop by before dinner. I think he and I need a talk like this one.”

“Thank you, Professor.” Hermione stood from the desk and turned to the door. “You’re leaving, aren’t you?”

“So clever, Ms. Granger.” Professor Lupin turned to watch her leave. “My time here is almost over. There are other things I need to do before we meet again. Take care.”

“Take care, Professor. We are going to need you again.”


End file.
